Orioles play first game at Dodgertown

In their only game this season at Dodgertown, members of the Baltimore Orioles stand during the national anthem before the start of their spring training game at Holman Stadium on Monday afternoon.

Rose Marie Bowles, left, and her husband Bill, of Oxford, Md., were on hand to cheer on the Baltimore Orioles on Monday. “If the Orioles came here, I would come even more often,” said Bill Bowles, who as been to two Orioles fantasy camps and is planning a third.

VERO BEACH - Dodgertown may be painted orange and black within the next two years, and now Vero Beach has a taste of what "Orioletown" might look like.

The Baltimore Orioles came to town Monday to play the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time since reportedly signing an option agreement with Indian River County in December. If all goes as planned, the Orioles would fill the vacancy in Vero Beach when the Dodgers leave for a new spring home in Glendale, Ariz., as soon as next year.

The Orioles have trained in Fort Lauderdale since 1996.

"They have their own tradition they'll be bringing in here, and this is a great place for them," said Dodgers season ticket holder Jeff Lee, who has been attending spring training games at Dodgertown since the 1960s. "You've just got to get adjusted to it. It's still baseball."

Monday could have been considered a test run for the Orioles, too, but manager Dave Trembley has coached at Dodgertown in the past. He spent four years as a manager for the Daytona Cubs in the Florida State League and coached games against the Vero Beach Dodgers.

The facility would be "more than adequate" for the way Trembley runs camp.

"It's unique, historical, beautiful, quaint," Trembley said. "It gives you the opportunity to develop players and have both your major league and minor league players here. It's got a lot of space, nice fields, offices, clubhouses, cages. They've got it all."

Trembley said he doesn't have anything to do with the organization's business decisions, which would include a spring training move, but he has expressed his thoughts on what a spring training location should include.

The main thing the Orioles are concerned about, Trembley said, is being able to move their minor leaguers to the same location as the major leaguers. Currently, the Orioles' minor league camp is in Sarasota.

Fort Lauderdale city officials approved plans more than a year ago to overhaul Fort Lauderdale Stadium and add fields that would likely allow room for the minor leaguers. However, the plans still need approval from the Federal Aviation Administration because the facility is located on airport property.

Orioles officials have declined comment on the matter. It is uncertain whether they would still come to Vero Beach if plans work out in Fort Lauderdale, though Trembley said another benefit to Dodgertown is that its location would make travel easier because of its proximity to more Grapefruit League teams.

"To me, I don't have a preference where it is," Trembley said. "I just think we need to be in a place where we can have both major and minor league together, and I think it needs to happen rather quickly than later. I don't think we want to wait three or four years for that to happen."

Local baseball fans are anxious to get a replacement team secured, especially the many Orioles fans in the area.

Vero Beach resident Nick DiRicco, 53, was born and raised in Baltimore as an Orioles fan. Since moving to Vero Beach in 1980, he has missed only one Orioles game at Dodgertown but looks forward to several more in the future.

"I've had a big smile on my face since I heard they might move here," DiRicco said. "I'd come to all the games then, and my wife would probably get mad."

DiRicco was one of 5,401 fans in attendance Monday. The stadium was still decked out in blue and white, but the crowd was dotted with some orange and black shirts.

There might be more next year.

"Any team would look good here," Trembley said. "I'm sure if they can build a new Yankee stadium, they can put new tenants in Dodgertown."